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Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer
Manhattan Transfer
Audiobook12 hours

Manhattan Transfer

Written by John Dos Passos

Narrated by Joe Barrett

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Considered by many to be John Dos Passos's greatest work, Manhattan Transfer is an "expressionistic picture of New York" (New York Times) in the 1920s that reveals the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants alike. From Fourteenth Street to the Bowery, Delmonico's to the underbelly of the city waterfront, Dos Passos chronicles the lives of characters struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it.

More than ninety years after its first publication, Manhattan Transfer still stands as "a novel of the very first importance" (Sinclair Lewis). It is a masterpiece of modern fiction and a lasting tribute to the dual-edged nature of the American dream.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 26, 2019
ISBN9781977337382
Author

John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos (1896–1970) was a writer, painter, and political activist. His service as an ambulance driver in Europe at the end of World War I led him to write Three Soldiers in 1919, the first in a series of works that established him as one of the most prolific, inventive, and influential American writers of the twentieth century, writing over forty books, including plays, poetry, novels, biographies, histories, and memoirs. 

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Reviews for Manhattan Transfer

Rating: 3.802047832081911 out of 5 stars
4/5

293 ratings7 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got less from this book than I expercted. There are many critical reviews due to the numerous characters and the bare development of many of them. I was interested to learn about New York City and the liberal views of many. The difficulties experienced by so many saddened me. I also noticed that Jews had an especially difficult time and many of the worse characters had Jewsih names. I don't know the history to know if that was based on fact. I did care about many of the characters. This occurred mainly in the late 1800's to the beginning of World War II.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At about a third of the way through I was sure that this was going to be a favourite. The writing was cinematic, New York of the early 20th century was vibrant and pulsed from every page. Then the scope narrowed, Ellen and Jimmy Herf took centre stage, and the pacing dropped. Still, a wonderful read and a gorgeous depiction of big city life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The ferry-slip. A ferry, and a newborn baby. A young man comes to the metropolis and the story begins. It is a story of that metropolis: "The world's second metropolis." But it is really the latest in a line that extends backward in time to "Nineveh . . Athens . . . Rome . . . Constantinople . ." and others since.John Dos Passos presents stories of some of the people who call this metropolis, Manhattan, home near the beginning of the twentieth century. The novel is about New Yorkers and their stories -- numerous characters whose commonality is only their status as New Yorkers brought them together, impersonally and randomly. He does so with an engaging style that encompasses the sights, sounds, feelings, and excitement encountered by those who peopled this island metropolis. Each chapter begins with passages comprising observations of city life, newspaper headlines, bits and pieces of dialogue, and phrases from advertisements. All these passages emphasize that "Manhattan Transfer" is a collective novel about the city of New York, about its shallowness, immorality, and grinds of the urban life. The characters' lives only depict some of them.There are the dreams of new parents whose daughter, Ellen, is born at the opening of the novel. Her life and career will be one of two that span the course of the novel. But there are also young lovers, young men, down-and-outers, immigrants, swells, and others on the make with little but their dreams to keep them going. Some stories are about dreams shattered or those whose lives are stillborn,limited by poverty or lack of vision. The angry rebels are present as well -- those found on the street corner protesting for better treatment, better pay, or mimicking the ideas of radicals and anarchists of the day.Among the many stories some stand out. There is James Merivale who is born to wealth and a prosperous future and John Harland who has seen better days and lives on the verge of losing it all. There is the family man Ed Thatcher with his wife and newborn daughter Ellen (mentioned above). There is also the other character whose story will span the novel, Jimmy Herf, whose path will cross that of Ellen. Jimmy Herf works with the "Times" in a job that he finds unfulfilling eventually leaving this job. Jimmy's search for his dream will form another arc that provides a link for all the stories bringing the reader ultimately back to the ferry with which the book began. This arc is not unfamiliar in the sense it is similar to the arc of young Nicholas Rostov in War and Peace and many other young men since.Dos Passos' style is mesmerizing and fits perfectly with the story he tells. The characters form a mosaic that blends with the sights and sounds of Manhattan to create a world that is alive with all the possibilities, both successes and defeats, that humanity may experience. British novelist D. H. Lawrence wrote Manhattan Transfer is "the best modern book about New York" because it "becomes what life is, a stream of different things and different faces rushing along in the consciousness, with no apparent direction save that of time".The historical references include discussion of the "bonus marchers" of veterans requesting their military bonuses, references to Sarajevo, and other events; all of which provide a background that provides context for these peoples' lives. I found this book an exciting read that gripped my attention and did not let it go. I would highly recommend this modern classic.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I learned the hard way that it is probably not a good idea to read this book if you are already feeling restless.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a book I recommend only to readers I know to patient. For the patient reader it is a treasure trove, a gem, and if a gem it must be emerald because it there ever was a book with a signature color it would be this one. At one point I began counting how many time the color green was mentioned, then any shade of green was mentioned. This is not to suggest that this book needed games such as mine to make it absorbing. Between the incisive character development, modern tough-sweet lyricism, the rhythmic pulse of the story Manhattan Transfer had style and substance to spare. Here is my review from when I read it in 2009 I had avoided Dos Passos novels for fear that they would be deadeningly political. Was I ever wrong? This book is wonderfully enjoyable. Told in impressionistic vignettes the book moves quickly as stars on the Manhattan stage rise and fall. Dos Passos indictment of the materialism and soulessness of turn of the century New York is told with neither sentiment nor heartlessness, but falls in a middle ground-dispassionate. The time frames can be confusing. For instance, in the beginning the book,the child Ellen is born, and carries her to a school- age. However,in the same section, the time lapse for Max, a wanderer hoping to find a job in the city, is only a few days elapse. Some characters are followed from childhood to adulthood, the two most promnient are Jimmy Herf and Ellen. Others appear briefly and then are never heard from again leaving a tantalizing void. On a peculiar note, I have never read a book where color is used in such an effective way. At times it seems as if colors shine dimly on the story, rather like gels have been but in can lights. And the color green is forever popping up. I have no idea if it was intentional. Very odd and intriguing. Really a fantastic book, and I am now going to search out more of dos Passos's books. Certainly my favorite book by a "one-eyed Portuguese bastard."
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a dense read, but well worth the time. Dos Passos' language and metaphors are brilliant, and his characters as entertaining as they are realistic. It's a book that you need to spend time with because, fair warning, there are dozens of characters to keep track of, but the atmosphere of early twentieth century New York is flawlessly portrayed, and the book as a whole is a masterpiece of careful portrayal and interpretation. This is a book that bears up under reading and rereading, and it's worth the time to explore. It's not an easy read, but I highly recommend it when you have the time to fully escape into a piece of literature for a few days.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Dos Passos is an American writer I'm coming to appreciate more and more. This book originally published in 1925--is very experimental in nature following a variety of threads occuring often simultaneously and which more often than not resemble an impressionistic and cinematic style reliant on newspaper headlines and tin pan alley popular musical lyrics to fill the gaps between scenes and/or to flesh the scenes out. Dos Passos has a very good eye for detail and is very keen on showing the gap between the rich and the poor--those who are defeated far outweighing in numbers the success stories. The two main characters of Jimmy Herf--an orphan brought up in well to do circumstances by his mothers' wealthy family who somewhat to their chagrin rejects the opportunity to join the family business--and becomes a newspaper man instead and Elaine Thatcher an aspiring actress on Broadway being chased by a whole host of would be suitors--and both of whom over the course of events eventually hook up to raise the child of the man Elaine really loved--who had accidentally killed himself. There are however no real happy endings here. The marraige is doomed from the start and as the book ends the penniless Mr. Herf is to be seen hitchhiking out of New York out to what one would hope to be a new and better horizon.Anyway liked it very much.